Windows 10 April 2020 update: all the news

Windows 10 is preparing the April 2020 update: new features for OS recovery and app support

Windows 10 20H1, "first half", half a year. Or even Windows 10 2004, that is 2020-04. That's the name of the next big Windows 10 update due out in April, the first of 2020 that follows last year's 19H2 ("second half"). And it will be full of new features, like all the semi-annual Windows updates from a few years now.

The wait is great, how much is the concern given the recent history of Windows 10 updates that have "broken" more than one computer around the world. This is the price to pay for having an operating system that is increasingly complex, up-to-date and in step with the times but that, at the same time, must work on about 800 million different configurations. In any case, it's very close: at the beginning of April, if there will be no delays like last year (when the "April update" became "May update", slipping a month), we will be able to install the new version of Windows 10.

Windows 10 20H1: cloud installation

The first major novelty of Windows 10 20H1 will be the fact that we can install (and reinstall, in case of problems with the operating system) via the cloud. It's a feature already known to macOS users, so appreciated that it would seem that Apple wants to bring it to iOS for iPhones as well. The very useful thing about cloud installation of the operating system is that, when we need to reinstall it to correct serious errors, the version that is restored is the same one we had on the computer. So with all the latest updates already present.

Windows 10 20H1: the other news

In Windows 10 20H1 there will be a very welcome novelty for app developers: the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, the new and more complete Linux "heart" that will allow Windows to run many more applications written for the operating system of the penguin. On Windows 10 2004, moreover, virtual desktops will survive a reboot, returning available with their names and settings, which we will have chosen before shutting down or restarting the PC.

There will also be news for those who have 2-in-1 PCs, with a File Explorer interface optimized for these devices. Those who have a traditional hard drive, and not an SSD, will instead like the optimization of the file indexing engine, which will apparently be less stressful on the disk and the CPU. It seems postponed at least to Windows 20H2, however, the introduction of the new Start menu with Fluent Design.